Blues waited in the living room of his apartment. After a brief exchange with the younger Enzan via text, he knew that it would not be long before the teenager showed up in person.

Enzan-sama and I babysat an alternate Enzan's baby. It was an interesting experience, and only occasionally unpleasant. Hideaki probably enjoyed it less than either of us, but then, it must be hard for him to be away from his parents.

I hope to see him again someday.

The day after Blues' brief text exchange with Enzan was Blues' day off. Enzan would be coming over that morning, too. The surprise would be that Blues would not be in his PET or any other computer or machine. The last time Blues had spoken to Enzan had been before he had regained his humanity. Blues was rather looking forward to informing Enzan.

After getting dressed and eating breakfast, Blues busied himself with some light cleaning while waiting for Enzan to show up.

The repairs Dr. Hikari had done his code seemed to have done some good after all. Or perhaps the Nexus had just been kind. But things had settled down now that Dr. Ohata had been arrested, allowing Blues to feel comfortable enough to leave Enzan from time to time. This most recent time, he had tried entering the Nexus again, and this time had been able to physically manifest there. It was almost like being human again.

He had met an alternate of Forte who had really been nothing like the Forte in his own universe. Their conversation had been mostly pleasant, with each offering solutions to the other's problems. Whether those solutions would work was another thing entirely, but it was still appreciated.

As soon as he and Enzan arrived at work the next day, Blues looked up Enzan and said, "Enzan-sama, I would like to speak with Dr. Hikari before we begin to work."

Watching security tapes from the day that Blues must have been attacked was incredibly boring. Even just concentrating on the chip development labs, there were still many cameras, each with a whole day's worth of footage to go through. Most of the tapes didn't show anything interesting, just people going back and forth as they did their jobs. Blues wasn't even in all of the tapes, but there was no way of knowing when he would move into the camera's view. There was no help for it. They would just have to watch every tape all the way through, or else risk missing a vital clue.

It helped, though, knowing that there was a clue to be found. All they had to do was spot the man or woman walking around with the desubstantiation device in their hands or, failing that, make note of every person who made physical contact with Blues that day. The first would give them a definite culprit. The latter would at least give them something to go on. Either way, it looked like they would finally be getting somewhere.

But even though he was focused on the task at hand, Blues was still aware of both his time and his human partner. "Enzan-sama, are you going to have lunch?"

A silent alarm went off inside Blues' PET, instantly bringing him out of sleep mode. Blues looked out the window into the real world, but the view was mostly blocked by a slightly pinkish something that was pressed up against the screen.

Enzan-sama's face, he guessed.

"Enzan-sama," he said out loud. "It is time to wake up."

I am unable to substantiate. This is going to be... difficult to deal with, not only for me, but for Enzan-sama, too.

I feel so cut off from him.

Tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will speak with Dr. Hikari and see if there isn't anything he can do.

While it wasn't a perfect solution, the substantiation technology that Enzan had gotten from the younger Enzan helped a great deal. With direct interaction with the real world restored, he no longer felt so cut off and alone. It was only during the times he was alone with Enzan that he missed his humanity the most.

For the most part, though, life had returned to an awkward normality. While no longer human or able to remove his armor, he could still do his job at SciLabs. The scientists there had quickly adjusted to the new technology. If anything, they were too curious about it, wanting very much to be able to analyze it. So far, the only one Blues had permitted to do that was Dr. Hikari. He was hoping the scientist could improve upon it to more closely imitate life, or even find a way to restore his humanity entirely. So far, he had had no luck. Blues did not let that dampen his hope.

Rather than dwell on the lack of success, he concentrated on the task at hand. He sat at his desk, typing in command and analyzing the code that appeared on his screen. There was something about that code... He frowned, wishing he could get a better look at it.

Then, with a start, it occurred to him that he could.

Surprised at himself for not thinking of it earlier, he went in search for Enzan.

It happened in the middle of the night. There was no warning, fanfare, or loud noises, nothing that might wake either Enzan or Blues. The dim blue sparkle of pixelation that was the only sign of what was happening was hidden by the bed sheets, only becoming visible when it reached Blues's face. By then, it was too late. The sparkling stopped a few moments later, leaving behind...

Nothing. The empty sheets crumpled into the space where Blues had been. The warmth from his body soon faded. All it would take from Enzan would be a few tosses and turns and it would be as though he had never been there at all.

Except, of course, for the little red PET that was now resting on top of Blues' pillow, its screen dimmed in sleep mode.

Yesterday was our anniversary. I have been officially "with" Enzan-sama for a year now. I believe I can honestly say that this has been the happiest year of my life.